Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was born on April 30, 1896 and he passed away on May 5, 1972. He was a blues and gospel singer and guitarist. His guitar playing was a unique finger-picking style that influenced many other artists.

In his prime of life, which is to say the late '20s, the Reverend Gary Davis was one of the two most renowned practitioners of the East Coast school of ragtime guitar; 35 years later, despite two decades spent playing on the streets of Harlem in New York, he was still one of the giants in his field, playing before thousands of people at a time, and an inspiration to dozens of modern guitarist/singers including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Donovan, Grateful Dead, Wizz Jones, Keb Mo, Ollabelle and Resurrection Band among others; and Jorma Kaukonen, David Bromberg, and Ry Cooder, who studied with Davis.

Amazon.com ReviewHis real name is Riley B. King, but the B.B. stands, as any aficionado knows, for Blues Boy, a nickname he was given in the late 1940s when he was a disk jockey in Memphis, Tenn. Of course, he's best known as the King of the Blues to millions of fans throughout the world.

At 70, B.B. King is still singing the blues and this is his story, from his childhood growing up in the Mississippi Delta, to the purchase of his first guitar at age 12, from his first real break after his appearance on Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time radio show, to his ascent to international acclaim as America's ambassador of the blues.

Friday, April 27, 2012

I have seen this floating around on the internet for some time now, and have even recieved it in my emial inbox a couple of times. It is an old joke and a good one too. I hope it makes you laugh.

How To Sing the Blues

1. Most Blues begin "woke up this morning."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in right away: I got a good woman-with the meanest face in town.

3. Blues are simple. After you have the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes. Sort of.

I got a good woman-with the meanest face in town.I got a good woman-with the meanest face in town.She got teeth like Condoleeza Rice and she weighs 500 pounds.

4. The Blues are not about limitless choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch; ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars are Chevies, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Other acceptable Blues transportation modes include Greyhound buses and southbound trains. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or SUVs. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running.

6. Adults sing the Blues. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. In the Blues, "adulthood" means old enough to get the electric chair when you shoot that man in Memphis.

7. You can have the Blues in New York City, but not in Brooklyn or Queens. Hard times in Vermont, Tucson, or North Dakota are just depression. The best places to have the Blues are still Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and New Orleans. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg while skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg when your broken-down pickup truck rolled over on it is.

9. The following colors do not belong in the Blues: violet, beige, mauve (unless you're truly desperate for a rhyme).

9. You can't have the Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is just plain wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places to have the Blues: the highway, a jailhouse, an empty bed, the bottom of a whiskey glass. Bad places to have the Blues: ashrams, gallery openings, weekends in the Hamptons, golf courses, Tiffany's, and IvyLeague institutions.

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, unless you happen to be an old black man-and it's an old black suit.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?

Answer "Yes" if:

a. your first name is a southern state-like Georgiab. you're blindc. you shot a man in Memphis.d. you can't be satisfied.e. you're older than dirt

Answer "No" if:

a. you once were blind but now can see.b. you're deafc. the man in Memphis lived.d. you have a trust fund or an IRA.e. you have all your teethf. you were once blind but now can see

13. Blues is not about color, it's about bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues; Gary Coleman could. Ugly old white people got a leg up on the blues. Julio Iglesias and Barbra Streisand will never sing the Blues.

14. If you ask for water and baby gives you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are: wine, whiskey, muddy water, beer, black coffee.

15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is a Blues death. So is substance abuse, the electric chair, or being denied treatment in an emergency room. It is not a Blues death to die during liposuction or from tennis elbow.

Singers with names like Muffy, Sierra, Auburn, Alexis, Gwenyth, Sequoiz, Brittany or Rainbow are not permitted to sing the Blues, no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

17. The Build Your Own Blues Singer Name Starter Kit:

a. Name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, Asthmatic)b. First name (from above lists) or name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi)c. Last name of a U. S. president (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)

18. I don't care how tragic your life; if you own a computer, you cannot sing the Blues. You'd best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or shotgun. Maybe your big ass woman just done sit on it. I don't care

19. Hey there, you can READ! This too be a big ol' problem. Most folks singin' the Blues ain't never had much a chance for education. In the Blues. the three R's stand for Railroads, Runnin' and Rehab.

20. It gots to be dark to sing the blues, preferably after midnight. Singin' da blues at noon is forbidden.

21. If none of the above works, try one last, pathetic stab at authenticity: name your guitar. Remember, Lucille is taken.

22. Epitaph on a blues musician's tombstone: "I didn't wake up this morning"

Today is the birthday of Ma Rainey. She was born in Columbus, Georgia on April 26, 1886. She wasn't the first recorded female blues singer, but she very well could have been. She had been performing for years before she was ever recorded.

She was on stage as early as 1900 (Encyclopedia of the Blues, Gerard Herzhaft). She was multi-talented, she sang, danced and acted in a traveling vaudeville show. In 1904 she married the dancer William "Pa" Rainey and adopted the nickname of "Ma" Rainey.

Her show was a part of the Tolliver circus and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. During this time she took a young Bessie Smith under her wing and gave her advice.

During her time women were the marquee names in blues music, and Ma Rainey was the most celebrated of them all. That is why she is often called the "Mother of the blues." She had been singing and performing for more than 20 years before she made her first recording for Paramount in 1923.

Her best known songs include, "See See Rider," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Her vocal delivery was tough and her music included jug bands, guitars, and she also played with bluesmen like Tampa Red and Blind Blake. She also sang with early jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Fletcher Henderson.

Albert King was born on April 25, 1923 and he passed away on December 21, 1992. He is one of the three Kings of the blues (along with BB King and Freddie King).

During his time, he was according to Wikipedia;

Albert King stood 6' 4" (192 cm) and weighed 250 lbs (118 kg) and was known as "The Velvet Bulldozer". He was born Albert Nelson on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. During his childhood he would sing at a family gospel group at a church. He began his professional work as a musician with a group called In The Groove Boys, in Osceola, Arkansas. He also briefly played drums for Jimmy Reed's band and on several early Reed recordings. Influenced by blues musicians Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, but also interestingly Hawaiian music, the electric guitar became his signature instrument, his preference being the Gibson Flying V, which he named "Lucy".

* Excerpts from literary masters James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Eudora Welty, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and William Faulkner Tracing the art form's path from juke joints, house parties, and recording studios to musicians such as Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles, Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues proves, in the words of Willie Dixon, "The blues are the roots; every-thing else is the fruits."

This is the best work Salgado’s ever done and that is saying something. This will most definitely be an instant classic and this is a CD that needs to be listened to from front to back.

His web site has some excellent promotional material - but there is nothing there to listen to yet - please tell me if you find anything because all reviews sound really good. Just have to post some older stuff

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

... Nearly as well known as his ambitious music was Mingus' often fearsome
temperament, which earned him the nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz." His
refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many on-stage
eruptions, exhortations to musicians, and dismissals

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was born on April 18, back in 1924 and passed away on September 10, 2005.

He is best known for his work as a blues musician, but embraced other styles of music, having "spent his career fighting purism by synthesizing old blues, country, jazz, Cajun and R & B styles" (New York Times obituary).[2]

He was an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, who played an array of musical instruments such as guitar, fiddle, mandolin, viola as well as harmonica and drums. He won a Grammy Award for Traditional Blues in 1983 for his album, Alright Again!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Vintage Distressed Boarding House 1965 San Francisco California Logo & Photo These Super Soft Distressed T-Shirts Are Custom Made To Be Much Thinner Than Regular Tees And Some Have An Outer Stitch. They Feel Like You Purchased It At A Concert In 1980, And Never Took It Off.

Believe it or not, I have been listening to mostly country music over the past year or so. So it has been a challenge to keep up with my blues blog. I really do love all kinds of music, so imagine how excited I was when I heard about the Lionel Richie Tuskegee album. It mixes too of my favorite kinds of music, R&B and Country.

It reminds me when I was young and I sang these songs (if there is a sound track for my youth, these songs are on it), but then there is the fact that these songs are covered by some of my favorite country artist of today. It is good stuff, if you have not checked this one out you really need to.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A group with a happy sound and philosophy - a good feel, I'd love to hear them live with a drink in my hand.

Worthy of a wider audience I think - fortunately from the lead singers' mouth discussing their newest album

Referring to the title track of their new album Kathena (favourite singer Steve Marriott is a big plus) has to say

'On this track is our friend Tony Winner Alice Ripley singing exquisite background vocals. She is a great musician because she has great ears and fine control. I love singing with Alice onstage and in the studio because she is hilarious and generous.

We named the album after this track in part because it is artist Gene Wisniewski's favorite Hippy Nuts song. We knew we wanted to use Gene's artwork for this album and when Guitarist Tim Champion saw Gene's painting "Constant Vigilance" he laughed and said it looked like the building is getting lucky because it is applying mascara to its eyes.
Indeed The Hippy Nuts do feel lucky Tonight and every night we get to play music with some of the best players in the world who are on this album--

Feeling lucky and blessed is the running theme. "Working For Love" is a song we wrote in reaction to the economic troubles in the city of Detroit. "Everybody's feeling down right now. They can't help it They lost their job and they're broke...Me I feel like a million bucks... I'm working for one single thing...Working For Love"

The Hippy Nuts are keeping our sense of humor and aim to uplift and keep people Smiling and dancing to the Country romp "Smile On The Shelf" and the Rock Soul "Work On Me Baby" with its accompanying Puppets Video.
Even the bluesy "Love Put The Hurt On Me" ends on a sunny note--"We're done and I gotta run...I'm looking for the good kind of love..."

As on previous albums Hippy Nuts fans notice the influence of Kathena Bryant's favorite singer Steve Marriott. The song "Pouring Out My Soul" while drenched in Texas twang also nods to the English Music Hall swagger employed by Marriott and The Small Faces.

There is humor and hope all over I Feel Lucky Tonight.
We hope y'all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed recording this album.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

His songs have influenced several generations of musicians, being adapted or covered by Kansas Joe McCoy, Robert Johnson, Cream, Deep Purple, Chris Thomas King, Alvin Youngblood Hart, The Derek Trucks Band, Beck, Big Sugar, and Rory Block. He is hailed as "one of the seminal figures of the blues.

Nehemiah "Skip" James studied the guitar at an early age until he became a master at it. When he was eight, people called him “Skippy” as a nickname.
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